by Scott Gleeson, USA TODAY Sports

by Scott Gleeson, USA TODAY Sports

That'll happen when you're suddenly teammates with the NBA's top center, Dwight Howard, and two-time MVP point guard Steve Nash.

While it's yet to be seen how the new Lakers players will all mesh together, the 34-year-old Bryant appears to be in a strong position to chase an elusive sixth NBA championship ring.

But Bryant remembers when things weren't so pretty in Hollywood.

During the 2005-06 season, Bryant averaged a career-high 35.4 points a game. He also had an OK shooting night that year, dropping 81 points on the Toronto Raptors. That season, the Lakers won 45 games and were ousted in the first round of the playoffs.

While the difference between then-starting Lakers point guard Smush Parker and current starter Steve Nash is obvious, Bryant wasn't shy in trashing Parker and some of his other former teammates, according to a recent Orange County Register report.

Bryant called Parker "the worst" and said "he shouldn't have been in the NBA but we were too cheap to pay for a point guard. So we let him walk on."

He then lashed out at some other former Lakers.

"I almost won an MVP with Smush Parker and Kwame Brown on my team," Bryant said in the report before Wednesday's 93-75 exhibition loss to Portland. "I was shooting 45 times a game. What was I supposed to do? Pass it to Chris Mihm or Kwame Brown?"

Ouch. Tell us how you really feel, Kobe.

Quick note: He actually shot 27.2 times a game that season, not 45.

To his point, the Lakers' starting lineup was atrocious. And Brian Cook, Stanislav Medvedenko and Devean George are a few other names that made up that roster.

Obviously, with two championships and a star-studded 2012-13 roster since then, the Lakers have made some significant strides.